Apparatus for the production of dispersions of solids in liquids



Jan. 8, 1929.

W. H. WHATMOUGH APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DISPERSIONS OF SOLIDS IN LIQUIDS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 7 MI VNTOA M-Wn ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAH HENRY WHATMOUGE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD PRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR THE YRODUCTION OF DISPERSIONS OF SOLIDS IN LIQUIDS.

Application filed AugustlG, 1928, Serial No. 300,107, and in Great Britain April 29, 1827.

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for the dispersion of solids, especially amorphous a gregates in liquids. The invention is particu arly suitable for the pro- 6 duction of dispersions of colours in oil to produce highly concentrated or pasty masses suitable for printing inks and the like.

Attempts have been made to producehighly concentrated dispersions of pigments or col- 10 ours in oil by the aid of high speed mills,

for example mills having intercalating beaters rotating at high speed or having a -coni cal disc rotating ,athigh speed in close proximity to a smooth surface. Extensive investigations into the operation of such high speed apparatus has shown that it is not possible to reduce all the solid particles to such small size that they will remain dispersed indefinitely in the oil unless the grinding is prolonged for an excessive len th of time. In my British patent specificat1on No. 276.400 I have pointed out that the mixture after treatment appears to contain a large number of globules which appear to be somewhat elast1c in their properties and are not further broken down in the high speed mill, except under very prolonged and expensive treatment.

It is an object of the present invention to produce dispersions of solids in liquids,

which dispersions have a high-concentration of solid'materia-l and which will retain the solids in suspension indefinitely.

A further object of the invention is to disperse colored materials in oils so as to produce a material which is suitable for use in printing inks and for other similar uses.

A further object of the invention is to improve the means employed in producing such dispersions.

It has now been found that it is possible rapidly to disperse am6rphous aggregates in liquids b causing such aggregates while suspende in liquid to be impacted by a beater member of reticulated structure rotating at high speed. If the beater element is formed wholly or partly of wire gauze, such amorphous aggregates are subjected'to a rubbing action which secures their efieotive dispersion in the liquid.

If such rubbing action is limited to the surface of the wire gauze, the fullest benefits will not be obtained except by repeatedly subjecting the liquid to be dispersed to the F treatment. To secure a more effective result,

pigments by reason of any shearing action between relatively moving surfaces, but effects this result largely by reason of the impact of a solid body upon the solid particles while suspended in the liquid and further by the rubbing action produced by the filamentous structure of the reticulated body employed.

I have found wire gauze having 30 strands to the linear inch to be very effective in treating mlneral blue. The size of mesh which is most effective seems to depend upon the concentration of solid in the mixture and on the friability of the solid e. g. kaolin can be treated with gauze having 20 strands to the linear inch. In most cases it will be desirable to use a combination of two or more gauzes of difierent mesh. Thus the as black which is sold under the name Peerless Black has up to the present given the best results with a beater formed. of alternate layers of 30 mesh and 60 mesh gauze. The invention is not however limited to the use of wire gauze because other solid reticulated or filamentous structures formed for examl ple of metallic shavings, wire or t-urnings may usefully be employed.

In apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention amorphous aggregates while suspended inliquid are impacted by a beater element of reticulated structure rotating at high speed in a liquid-tight casing. The beater element may be formed of superimposed layers of metallic wire mesh.

The invention also includes suitable apparatus comprising a liquid-tight casing and a rotor mounted therein adapted to be rotated at high speed provided with one or more beater elements of reticulated structure therein. Thus the rotor may have one or more beater elements composed of superimposed layers of metallic wire mesh. Such a heater element for impact upon friable solid particles suspended in a liquid is believed to be novel in this art. Preferably baflies are employed to direct the liquid and suspended solid into the path of the beaters or to the inside of the reticulated structure. The baflles themselves may be of reticulated structure.

Another feature of the invention which is described and claimed in the applicants copending application, Serial No. 310,232, filed Qctober 4, 1928 consists in Y employing a rapidlyrbtating member carrying a large number of small projections. T us there may project from the beater a large number of finepointed projections such as the ends of wires. These projections moving at high speed through the liquid appear to exert a peculiar disruptive action upon the aggreates of fine particles which are thereby roken down to form substantially stable suspensions of the solid in liquid.

In constructing apparatus suitable for this fOifil of the invention a few strands are removed from the edges of the wire gauze em p10 ed as the beater element.

s ilcha piece of gauze may be rotated edgewiseinthe liquid, but it is preferred to employ a plurality of such pieces of gauze so as to form a. laminated body provided on its periphery with a large number of pointed projections. These projections may be cut to point orknife edge as desired.

Various forms of apparatus embodying the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a general arrangement of casing and rotor.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a rotor with a filamentous filling between the beater bars.

Figure 3' is a perspective view of a filamentous filling unit as applied in Figure 2.

' ,Fi ure 4 is an end elevation of a rotor built up 0 superimposed layers of wire mesh.

Figure 5is a front elevation of the rotor shown in Figure 4.

- Figure 6 is a front elevation of amodified construction of the rotor shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 7 is a front elevation of a general form of' mill showing one form of baflie and Figure Sis a plan view of a horizontal mill.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the casing of the mill which may have a jacket 2 provided with inlet 3 and outlet 4'for cooling liquid. 4 may be used as inlet and 3 as outlet for heating liquid if desired or necessary.

Material to be dispersed can be fed in at 5 and removed at 6.

The mixture of solid and liquid is dispersed by the action of the rotor 7 mounted to rotate at 8.

In Figure2 the spaces between these beater bars 10 are filled up by reticulated uni-ts of wire mesh 11 shown in detail in Figure 3. A pluralit of sheets of wire mesh are placed face to ace and enclosed within a channel 12 of sheet metal or other material. The sheets of gauze are kept inposition and secured between the beater bars by a bolt (not shown) each sheet if desired and the sheets ma passing through the hole 13. In Figure 2 the reticulated units are shown with the bottom of the channel outwards but they may equally be placed with the bottom of the'channel inwards. A large number of free ends of the wire may project from the heaters as shown in Figure 3. The latter modification of the invention in whiclrthe beater "elements are provided with projecting wires or points is covered by my co-pendlng application referred to above.

A modified form of rotor is shown in Figures 4 and 5 in which the rotor is built up of a a plurality of sheets of wire gauze cut to-a circular form with projecting lugs 14 which act as beater bars. These sheets are secured between plates 15 by bolts 16 on to a spindle 17. As shown each sheet has four lugs but the sheets are placed in staggered relationship so that twelve beater bars are formed in eight alternate rows of two and one. More than eight lugs (e. g. sixteen) may be cut in be associated in different manners e. g. to orm four or eight beater bars extending right across the periphery of the rotor. As shown in Figures 4 and 5 the plates 15 extend to the periphery of the rotor but smallerplates maiy be used if desired.

11 Figure 6 the side walls 15 extend from a ..ing if desired lugs forming beater bars 14 is thensecured to the outside of this annular wall 19.

On the walls 15 are mounted cowls 21 which centre boss 18 to an annular Wall 19 which 3 pick up liquid and divert it into the chamber formed between the boss 18 and wall 19. Thence it passes through the perforations in the wall 19 and through the wire mesh 20. If desired the wire mesh 20 instead of being built up' of annular plates of auze placed face to face may be formed wi iOllt lugs by wrapping a number of convolutions of a stri of gauze round the wall 19.

igure 7 shows an arrangement similar to Fi ure 1 in which a bafile 22 is provided to guide the li uid into the pathof the beater. Figure 8 s ows a form of mill suitable for use in a horizontal position. In this the rotor 7 is mounted concentrically in the casing and baflles are mounted at different points on the wall. Any of the forms of rotor shown in Figures 2, 4, 5 or 6 may be employed and in general the rotor and/or the baflles may be reticulated structure.

The forms of construction shown above 'given merely by way of example.

In testing the efficiency of various forms of apparatus operating according to the present iao invention 1 have employed a mixture con sisting of 4 pounds of mineral oil, 3 ounces of carnauba wax and 8 ounces of colour comprising an ordinary mineral blue. Known forms of beater mills having solid beater bars can be operated to produce a mixture containing approximately 80% of solid sufliciently finely dispersed to remain in sus ension when kept at a temperature of 120 for 8 hours, but it was found as the result of extensive investigation that no simple alteration in the method of operating such apparatus and no alteration in the physical variables such as temperature, except time of grinding, had any substantial eflect in improving the efiiciency beyond this limit of 80%. This figure'is arbitrary in that it represents the quantity of solid remaining in suspension over a period of 8 hours at 120 C. If the mixture is al-- lowed to cool the coarser particles settle more slowly or not at all and the proportion remaining in suspension will be corresponding- 1y greater, and conversely if the temperature is raised or the mixture diluted with a thinner medium such as paraflin oil, a large propor-- gregates is introduced into thespace between the wall of the casing and the rotor. By operating with speeds of 3,000 revolutions per minute, equivalent to a speed of approximately 2,000 metres per minute, successful results were'obtained in dispersing such highly concentrated pastes as 3 pints of oil, 1 pound of.

' wax and 4 pounds of mineral blue; By subjecting this mixture'to high speed treatment in the mill described above for 5 to 10 minutes at an initial temperature of 100 C. 95%- of the solid was dispersed to a sufiicient degree of fineness to remain in suspension under the test conditions referred to above. During the 5-10 minutes of treatment the temperature may rise to about 120. Higher speeds than that given above may-beemployed and it is believed also that lower speeds can be employed with successful results.

I declare that what I claim is:

1. Apparatus for dispersing amorphous aggregates in liquid comprising a liquid-tight casing and a beater mounted therein formed of superim osed layers of wire gauze, and adapted to lie rotated at high speed.

' 2. A beater element for impact at high speed u on friable solid particles suspended in liquiconsisting of a body of superimposed layers of metallic wire mesh.

3. Apparatus for dispersing amorphous aggregates in liquids comprising a liquid tight casing, a beater element mounted therein of reticulated structure and adapted to be rotated at high speed and means rotatable with said beater element for causing the material being treated to pass through the reticulated structure.

4. Apparatus for dispersing amorphous aggregates in liquids comprising a llquidti t casing, a rotor mounted therein and a apted to e rotated at high speed, said rotorbeing formed of superimposed layers of wire gauze and plates for securing said gauze in position, said plates being provided with cowls to direct the material to be treated into said rotor and through said wire gauze.

5. Apparatus for dispersing amorphous aggregates in liquids com rising a casmg, a rotor mounted therein an adapted to be rotated at high speed, said rotor bein provided on its periphery with reticulated beater elements positioned in staggered relation with reference to each other.

6. Apparatus for dispersing amorphous aggregates in liquids comprising a casing, a rotor mounted therein and adapted to be rotated at high speed, said rotor being provided with circumferentially extended reticulated beater elements upon its periphery through whlilch the material may passcircumferentia 7 Apparatus for dispersing amorphous aggregates in liquids comprising a casing, a rotor mounted therein and adapted to be rotated at high speed, and beater elements carried by said-rotor, said beater elements being formed of a plurality of layers of reticulated material, and means for holding said reticulated members in fixed position on said rotor.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 27th day of July 1928.

.WILLIAM HENRY WHATMOUGH. 

